CHAPTER XV

And yet he thinks,---ha, ha, ha, ha,---he thinks I am the tool and servant of his will. Well, let it be; through all the maze of trouble His plots and base oppression must create, I'll shape myself a way to higher things, And who will say 'tis wrong?

Basil, a Tragedy.

No spider ever took more pains to repair the shattered meshes of his web, than did Waldemar Fitzurse to reunite and combine the scattered members of Prince John's cabal. Few of these were attached to him from inclination, and none from personal regard. It was therefore necessary, that Fitzurse should open to them new prospects of advantage, and remind them of those which they at present enjoyed. To the young and wild nobles, he held out the prospect of unpunished license and uncontrolled revelry; to the ambitious, that of power, and to the covetous, that of increased wealth and extended domains. The leaders of the mercenaries received a donation in gold; an argument the most persuasive to their minds, and without which all others would have proved in vain. Promises were still more liberally distributed than money by this active agent; and, in fine, nothing was left undone that could determine the wavering, or animate the disheartened. The return of King Richard he spoke of as an event altogether beyond the reach of probability; yet, when he observed, from the doubtful looks and uncertain answers which he received, that this was the apprehension by which the minds of his accomplices were most haunted, he boldly treated that event, should it really take place, as one which ought not to alter their political calculations.

``If Richard returns,'' said Fitzurse, ``he returns to enrich his needy and impoverished crusaders at the expense of those who did not follow him to the Holy Land. He returns to call to a fearful reckoning, those who, during his absence, have done aught that can be construed offence or encroachment upon either the laws of the land or the privileges of the crown. He returns to avenge upon the Orders of the Temple and the Hospital, the preference which they showed to Philip of France during the wars in the Holy Land. He returns, in fine, to punish as a rebel every adherent of his brother Prince John. Are ye afraid of his power?'' continued the artful confident of that Prince, ``we acknowledge him a strong and valiant knight; but these are not the days of King Arthur, when a champion could encounter an army. If Richard indeed comes back, it must be alone,---unfollowed ---unfriended. The bones of his gallant army have whitened the sands of Palestine. The few of his followers who have returned have straggled hither like this Wilfred of Ivanhoe, beggared and broken men.---And what talk ye of Richard's right of birth?'' he proceeded, in answer to those who objected scruples on that head. ``Is Richard's title of primogeniture more decidedly certain than that of Duke Robert of Normandy, the Conqueror's eldest son? And yet William the Red, and Henry, his second and third brothers, were successively preferred to him by the voice of the nation, Robert had every merit which can be pleaded for Richard; he was a bold knight, a good leader, generous to his friends and to the church, and, to crown the whole, a crusader and a conqueror of the Holy Sepulchre; and yet he died a blind and miserable prisoner in the Castle of Cardiff, because he opposed himself to the will of the people, who chose that he should not rule over them. It is our right,'' he said, `` to choose from the blood royal the prince who is best qualified to hold the supreme power--- that is,'' said he, correcting himself, ``him whose election will best promote the interests of the nobility. In personal qualifications,'' he added, ``it was possible that Prince John might be inferior to his brother Richard; but when it was considered that the latter returned with the sword of vengeance in his hand, while the former held out rewards, immunities, privileges, wealth, and honours, it could not be doubted which was the king whom in wisdom the nobility were called on to support.''

These, and many more arguments, some adapted to the peculiar circumstances of those whom he addressed, had the expected weight with the nobles of Prince John's faction. Most of them consented to attend the proposed meeting at York, for the purpose of making general arrangements for placing the crown upon the head of Prince John.

It was late at night, when, worn out and exhausted with his various exertions, however gratified with the result, Fitzurse, returning to the Castle of Ashby, met with De Bracy, who had exchanged his banqueting garments for a short green kittle, with hose of the same cloth and colour, a leathern cap or head-piece, a short sword, a horn slung over his shoulder, a long bow in his hand, and a bundle of arrows stuck in his belt. Had Fitzurse met this figure in an outer apartment, he would have passed him without notice, as one of the yeomen of the guard; but finding him in the inner hall, he looked at him with more attention, and recognised the Norman knight in the dress of an English yeoman.

``What mummery is this, De Bracy?'' said Fitzurse, somewhat angrily; ``is this a time for Christmas gambols and quaint maskings, when the fate of our master, Prince John, is on the very verge of decision? Why hast thou not been, like me, among these heartless cravens, whom the very name of King Richard terrifies, as it is said to do the children of the Saracens?'

``I have been attending to mine own business,'' answered De Bracy calmly, ``as you, Fitzurse, have been minding yours.''

``I minding mine own business!'' echoed Waldemar;

``I have been engaged in that of Prince John, our joint patron.''

``As if thou hadst any other reason for that, Waldemar,'' said De Bracy, ``than the promotion of thine own individual interest? Come, Fitzurse, we know each other---ambition is thy pursuit, pleasure is mine, and they become our different ages. Of Prince John thou thinkest as I do; that he is too weak to be a determined monarch, too tyrannical to be an easy monarch, too insolent and presumptuous to be a popular monarch, and too fickle and timid to be long a monarch of any kind. But he is a monarch by whom Fitzurse and De Bracy hope to rise and thrive; and therefore you aid him with your policy, and I with the lances of my Free Companions.''

``A hopeful auxiliary,'' said Fitzurse impatiently;

``playing the fool in the very moment of utter necessity.---What on earth dost thou purpose by this absurd disguise at a moment so urgent?''

``To get me a wife,'' answered De Bracy coolly,

``after the manner of the tribe of Benjamin.''

``The tribe of Benjamin?'' said Fitzurse; ``I comprehend thee not.''

``Wert thou not in presence yester-even,'' said De Bracy, ``when we heard the Prior Aymer tell us a tale in reply to the romance which was sung by the Minstrel?---He told how, long since in Palestine, a deadly feud arose between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the Israelitish nation; and how they cut to pieces wellnigh all the chivalry of that tribe; and how they swore by our blessed Lady, that they would not permit those who remained to marry in their lineage; and how they became grieved for their vow, and sent to consult his holiness the Pope how they might be absolved from it; and how, by the advice of the Holy Father, the youth of the tribe of Benjamin carried off from a superb tournament all the ladies who were there present, and thus won them wives without the consent either of their brides or their brides' families.''

``I have heard the story,'' said Fitzurse, ``though either the Prior or thou has made some singular alterations in date and circumstances.''

``I tell thee,'' said De Bracy, ``that I mean to purvey me a wife after the fashion of the tribe of Benjamin; which is as much as to say, that in this same equipment I will fall upon that herd of Saxon bullocks, who have this night left the castle, and carry off from them the lovely Rowena.''

``Art thou mad, De Bracy?'' said Fitzurse. ``Bethink thee that, though the men be Saxons, they are rich and powerful, and regarded with the more respect by their countrymen, that wealth and honour are but the lot of few of Saxon descent.''

``And should belong to none,'' said De Bracy;

``the work of the Conquest should be completed.''

``This is no time for it at least,'' said Fitzurse

``the approaching crisis renders the favour of the multitude indispensable, and Prince John cannot refuse justice to any one who injures their favourites.''

``Let him grant it, if he dare,'' said De Bracy;

``he will soon see the difference betwixt the support of such a lusty lot of spears as mine, and that of a heartless mob of Saxon churls. Yet I mean no immediate discovery of myself. Seem I not in this garb as bold a forester as ever blew horn? The blame of the violence shall rest with the outlaws of the Yorkshire forests. I have sure spies on the Saxon's motions---To-night they sleep in the convent of Saint Wittol, or Withold, or whatever they call that churl of a Saxon Saint at Burton-on-Trent. Next day's march brings them within our reach, and, falcon-ways, we swoop on them at once. Presently after I will appear in mine own shape, play the courteous knight, rescue the unfortunate and afflicted fair one from the hands of the rude ravishers, conduct her to Front-de-Buf's Castle, or to Normandy, if it should be necessary, and produce her not again to her kindred until she be the bride and dame of Maurice de Bracy.''

``A marvellously sage plan,'' said Fitzurse, ``and, as I think, not entirely of thine own device.---Come, be frank, De Bracy, who aided thee in the invention? and who is to assist in the execution? for, as I think, thine own band lies as far of as York.''

``Marry, if thou must needs know,'' said De Bracy, ``it was the Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert that shaped out the enterprise, which the adventure of the men of Benjamin suggested to me. He is to aid me in the onslaught, and he and his followers will personate the outlaws, from whom my valorous arm is, after changing my garb, to rescue the lady.''

``By my halidome,'' said Fitzurse, ``the plan was worthy of your united wisdom! and thy prudence, De Bracy, is most especially manifested in the project of leaving the lady in the hands of thy worthy confederate. Thou mayst, I think, succeed in taking her from her Saxon friends, but how thou wilt rescue her afterwards from the clutches of Bois-Guilbert seems considerably more doubtful ---He is a falcon well accustomed to pounce on a partridge, and to hold his prey fast.''

``He is a Templar,'' said De Bracy, ``and cannot therefore rival me in my plan of wedding this heiress;---and to attempt aught dishonourable against the intended bride of De Bracy---By Heaven! were he a whole Chapter of his Order in his single person, he dared not do me such an injury!''

``Then since nought that I can say,'' said Fitzurse,

``will put this folly from thy imagination,

(for well I know the obstinacy of thy disposition,) at least waste as little time as possible---let not thy folly be lasting as well as untimely.''

``I tell thee,'' answered De Bracy, ``that it will be the work of a few hours, and I shall be at York--- at the head of my daring and valorous fellows, as ready to support any bold design as thy policy can be to form one.---But I hear my comrades assembling, and the steeds stamping and neighing in the outer court.---Farewell.---I go, like a true knight, to win the smiles of beauty.''

``Like a true knight?'' repeated Fitzurse, looking after him; ``like a fool, I should say, or like a child, who will leave the most serious and needful occupation, to chase the down of the thistle that drives past him.---But it is with such tools that I must work;---and for whose advantage?---For that of a Prince as unwise as he is profligate, and as likely to be an ungrateful master as he has already proved a rebellious son and an unnatural brother. ---But he---he, too, is but one of the tools with which I labour; and, proud as he is, should he presume to separate his interest from mine, this is a secret which he shall soon learn.''

The meditations of the statesman were here interrupted by the voice of the Prince from an interior apartment, calling out, ``Noble Waldemar Fitzurse!'' and, with bonnet doffed, the future Chancellor (for to such high preferment did the wily Norman aspire) hastened to receive the orders of the future sovereign.